Peters



UNITED STATES f PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM V. GEE, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

LOOM FOR WEAVINGr SSPENDER-WEBBING.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,571, dated September 18, 1855.

T 0 all whom t may concern Be it known that I, VILLIAM V. GEE, of thecity and county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Looms for Teaving SuspenderlVebbing and other Narrow Fabrics, part of which improvement may be alsoapplied to looms for other kinds of weaving; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, 1n which- Figure 1, 1s a front view of a power loomembracing all my improvements. Fig. 2, is

This invention relates for the most part.

to improvements in the mechanism by which the harness of the loom isoperated for they purpose of weaving button holes or other openings insuspender webbing or other fabrics. of the reed and to peculiar take-upand letoff motions, for the same purpose.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operat-ion.

A, is the framing of the loom.

B, B, are the several leaves of harness, each one being supported at thetop of an upright bar C, which works freely in two fixed guides D, D,and each leaf receiving a portion of the warp, the same as the harnessof any common loom for weaving fancy goods. The leaves'are severallyraised as desired by means of catches, a, a, pivoted by a pivot af, to avertically sliding carriage E, which may be called the lifting carriage,which receives motion through a rod see Fig. 1, from a lever 0, seeFigs. 1 and 3, which is arranged near the bottom of the loom, andreceives motion through a connecting rod F2, from a crank F', on themain shaft F, of the loom. The operation of the catches a, a, isregulated according to the It also relates to the constructiony desiredpattern by means of levers f, f, shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4,corresponding in number with the catches and the leaves of harness, thesaid levers having their position regulated by a pattern cylinder Gr, insuch a manner as either to operate when the carriage E, ascends, uponthe tails 1, 1, of the respective catches a, a, to throw the tongues 2,2, thereof ont of the notches 3, 3, in the sides of the respectivelifting bars C, and thus make the catches fail to lift the bars, or tostand out of the way of the said catches, and allow the tongues to beforced into the said notches by springs 4, 4, applied to their tails.The pattern cylinder is of a kind used in many kinds of looms, havingholes at proper dist-ances apart all over its periphery and the levers ff, have pins f, permanently attached to them to fall into such of theholes in the cylinder as are left open. The pattern is formed byplugging up a number of these holes. Every time the sliding carriage E,is raised and just as it arrives at the full extent of its upwardmovement, the levers f, f, are all simultaneously thrown back away fromthe pattern cylinder, by the movement which is given to a larger orsuperior lever H, to which all the said levers are attached. Thisthrowing back of the levers is necessary to enable the pattern cyl.-inder to be turned. The superior lever H, swings on a pivot z., near thebottom of the loom as shown in Fig. 4, and it derives its movement fromtwo inclined surfaces i and j, of a frame I, attached to the connectingrod F2, acting upon two inclined surfaces i', and j, on its own upperpart, the movement thus given to it-being at right angles to thevibration of the rod F2. The inferior levers f, f, are all pivoted tothe superior lever H, by a pivot or pivots 70, nearly close to the pivot71 and they are all held in contact with the back of the superior levereach by a separate spring Z, with a degree of rigidity sufficient toenable them to operate on the catches 0 a, when their pins f, fall intothe holes in the pattern cylinder with the return movement of t-hesuperior lever in a forward direction or toward the pattern cylinder butnot too great to offer any obstruction to the further movement of thesuperior and other inferior levers when one or more of the inferiorlevers are arrested by coming in contact with a blank in the cylinder orwith a plug inserted in one of its holes. Those of the inferior leverswhose pins f, fall into holes in the pattern cylinder, occupy such aposition at the commencement of the ascent of the sliding carriageE,which carries the catches a, a, that, as the said carriage rises, thetails l, l, of the catches, which are opposite the said levers, come incontact with them and cause the tongues 2, 2, of the said catches to beheld off the lifting bars C, C, of the respective leaves of harness,till they pass the notches 3, 3, but all those of the said levers thatare arrested by the blanks or plugs in the cylinder leave the respectivecatches free to act on the harness, rIhe shed only opens one way, thatis, by rising, and to close the shed the harness is lowered by thedescent of the carriage E, and catches until the lifting bars C, C, aredeposited on a fixed resting table J. The continued movement of thecatch carriage E, below the point where the lifting bars are arrestedvgives the opportunity for the throwing out of the catches a, a, whichmust of course be done before they can take hold of the lifting bars inascending. The turning of the pattern cylinder to effect the necessarychanges for the'pattern, effected by a dog P, attached to the slidingcarriage, acting upon a ratchet wheel P', on the end of the cylinder.

I have now described the opera-tion of the harness in weaving the wholewidth of the fabric, and the next thing to be described is the manner inwhich the holes are woven. The first step toward forming the holes is toweave one half of the width of the fabric or that part on one side ofthe hole for the full length of the hole. To do this, one half of theharness or all that part which takes the warp on the side of the holenot to be woven, has to remain entirely inoperative, which is effectedsimply by a proper arrangement of the holes and blanks forming thepattern on the cylinder. During that part of the operation the take-uproll m, continues its operation the same as during the weaving of thewhole Width, but as soon as one side of the hole is completed, thetake-up roll has to move backward far enough to let the web return adistance equal to the length of the hole. In order to prevent the reedobstructing the return of that half of the web which has been woven onthe one side of the hole, there is `a crook of suflicient depth made inthe upper parts of all the dents n, of the corresponding half of thereed, as shown at nf, in Fig. 2, and previously to letting back the weball the woven half of it is raised high enough to fall back into thecrooks in the dents. In Fig. 2, of the drawing a portion of the web,which is represented in blue color, is shown raised up as high as thecrooks Before vdescribing the manner in which the raising of the web andthe letting go of the take-up,

is effected, I will describe the let-ofip motion, which also serves as abackward take-up to take back the web to commence weaving the secondside of the hole.

The yarn rolls, 0, o, and the let-o mechanism are all 'arranged in asmall frame K, K. The yarn rolls, of which two are shown in Fig. l, haveflanges at each end and a forked brake lever 0', is arranged under eachroll, one side of the fork to bear against each tiange. The yarn leavingthe roll comes over the top, as shown in Fig. 2, and after passingdownward through the fork of the lever it passes up again through a hole02, near the end of the lever and then. over t-he nearly horizontal armof an elbow lever p, which stands over the end of the levers 0, theother arm of the said elbow lever, which stands nearly vertical, havinga spring p, applied in such a manner as to raise the first named arm.The drag on the yarn keeps the brake lever raised into con tact with theflanges of the let-off roll, and t-hus, by the friction produced by thebrake lever, the yarn is kept at a proper tension for weaving. lVhilethe weaving of the whole width of web and the first side of the buttonhole is proceeding, the horizontal arm of the lever p, except at thetime of operation of the take-up roll, is drawn down by the tension ofthe yarn, so as to not quite touch the brake lever, which remains inoperation and positively prevents the movement of the let-o1f roll; butwhen the takeup roll comes into operation, the pull which is given tothe yarn draws down the arm of the elbow lever still farther and makesit come in contact with and slightly depress t-he brake lever, therebyleaving the let-of roll free to move far enough to give out the properquantity of yarn, but the instant the tension of the yarn is reduced toa certain extent by t-he act-ion of the let-0H, the spring p, overcomesthe remaining tension and raises the lever 79, sufficiently for thebrake lever to rise, and come into operation again, in which conditionit continues till the next operat-ion of the take up roll. When thetake-up cylinder is liberated on the completion of one side of the. holethe backward take-up or carrying back of the. yarn to commence theweaving of the other side of the hole is effected by the lever p, whichas the tension is caused to diminish by the liberation of the take-uproll is thrown up by the spring p, high enough to take back the wholelength of the hole. Every time the take-up roll operates during theweaving of the second side of the hole, the lever j?, descends a little,until, by the time the web is completed to the end of the hole, thelsaid lever has arrived again in Contact with the brake lever and thefirst described operation of the let-off is resumed.

The take-up roll m, carries a ratchetwheel m, to be operated by a pawlm2, attached to one of the swords L of the lay L, and is thereby causedto act at every beat of the lay. The take-up is retained by a pawl W",attached to one of the front uprights of the frame. The liberation ofthe take-up roll is effected ,by the means and in the manner described,as follows: M, is a bent lever (the form of which is shown distinctly inFigs. l and 3,) pivoted toafiXed standard M. One extremity of this leveris made in the form of a pivot to attach the back end of a bar Q, at thefront end of which there is a square hook, as shown in Fig. 2, which,while the whole width of the web and the first side of the hole arebeing woven is caught by a spring catch piece Q, attached to a branchMi", of the lever M, the lever being stationary during the whole of thatpart of the operation and the upper side of the bar Q, standing just lowenough for the pawls m2, m3, to engage with the ratchet wheel m.

It has been hereinbefore stated that when the first side of the hole iscompleted, the woven half of the warp is raised so that it may fall intothe crooks nf, in the dents of the correspc-nding half of the reed. Thisraising of the warp is effected by the harness motion already described,regulated by the pattern cylinder, and as soon as it has been effectedall the harness thus raised is held up by a number of catches s, s, on asmall rock shaft s, which rests in a pair of fixed bearings s3, beingthrown into operation to enter corresponding notches in the lifting barsC, C. This rock shaft stands just above the opposite end of the lever Mto that carrying the bar Q, and is provided with a small cam s2, shownin Fig. 1, which at the same time thatthe shaft is turned to throw thecatches into operation is made to depress the contiguous end of thelever' M, and raise the opposite end thereof together with the bar Q,and thus to disengage both the pawls m2, m3, from the ratchetwheel fm,and allow the web to be taken back by the spring p, and lever p, of thelet-off motion. The return or unwinding movement of the take-up roll isarrested by means of an arm r, which is attached to it, striking thespring catch piece Q, and driving it out of the hook of the bar Q,allowing the hooked end of the bar to fall and thus allowing the pawlsm3, m2, to engage with the ratchet wheel. The proper distance of thereturn of the web is regulated by fitting the arm 11. loosely to thetake-up roll and eecting the connection with the roll, by a pawl r,attached to the said arm to engage with the ratchet wheel m. Thedistance of the movement of the arm r, starting from the catch piece Q,is regulated by a fixed stop 12, secured on the upright of the loomframing, the movement of the said arm being stopped when it comes incontact with that stop and there remaining, allowing the ratchet to moveon without it until the pawls m2, m3, are disengaged, when the arm iscarried back with the ratchet. It will thus be seen that the properdistance of the return of the web depends upon the position of the stopr2. If it is desired to vary the length of the holes this stop should bemade adjustable. Vhen the bar Q, drops to allow the pawls m2, m3, tocome into opern ation again, it only falls far enough for that purpose,being arrested by a fixed rest Q2, on the contiguous upright of theframing of the loom. Then the catches s, s, are thrown out of operation,on the completion of the hole, to allow the harness to resume its properoperation for weaving the whole width of the web, the same movement ofthe rock shaft s, that -disengages the said catches throws the cam s2,out of the way of the lever M, and allows the other end of the levercarrying the bar Q, to fall, by reason of its greater weight. When thisfalling action of the lever M, takes place, the bar Q, becomes a lever,the rest Q2, being the fulcrum and as the pivoted end of the said bardescends with the lever M, the hooked end is raised until the springcatch piece Q, enters the hook and the bar becomes attached by both endsto the lever. This entrance of the catch into the hook takes place onthe first action of the take-up after the completion of the hole andresumption of the weaving the whole width of the web.

The movement of the rock-shaft s, is effected by a small lever t, whichis pivoted by a pivot t', to an arm N, which is secured to the catchcarriage E, by which the harness is operated. The upper part of thislever t, terminates in a pointed finger 152, which, according as itinclines to the right or to the left passes on one or other side of thecenter of the rock-shaft. The rockshaft, at the part opposite or nearestto this finger, has a triangular projection or cam s3, shown in Figs. l,and 5, and when the finger, in ascending with the carriage E, passes onthe right side of this triangular piece, as shown in Fig. l, it turnsthe shaft over to the left and throws the catches s, s, into operativepositions, but when t-he finger passes on the other side of the triangleit throws the shaft over in the other direction and thro-ws the catchesout of operation.

The shifting of the lever t, to make it incline to the right or left tothrow the catches into or out of operation is effected by the followingmeans. Below the lever t, there. is a horizontally vibrating leverV Q,which has its fulcrum u, at one end and which has an eye u, at somedistance from the fulcrum, through which passes the pattern cylindershaft. The other end of this lever has two inclined pieces 6 and 7, theformer on the front side and the latter on the back side, theinclination of the said pieces being in opposite directions. This leverQ, is only moved when it is necessary to change the position of thelever t, to operate on the rock-shaft 8, being moved backward at thecomplet-ion of the weaving of one side of a hole and forward at thecompletion of the other side. When the lever Q, is forward the lever t,passes be hind it as it moves up and down with the carriage E, and whenit is thrown back the said lever t, passes in front of it. During theweaving of the first side of a hole, the lever t, stands inclined in theopposite direction to that shown in Fig. l, but when that side of thehole is completed the lever Q, is thrown forward and the lower end ofthe lever t, on its next descent strikes the inclined piece f, and thesaid lever t, is thrown to the position shown in Fig. l. lVhen the otherside of the hole is completed, the lever Q is thrown back and the lowerend of the lever t, on its succeeding descent strikes the inclined pieceb, which again effects the necessary change in its position. rlhemovement of the lever t, is limited by a stop t3, on the end of the armN, and the lever is confined in either position with sufficient securityby a spring 254, whose point presses against one or otherl of twolaterally inclined surfaces 8 and 9, on the back of the lever, shown inFig. 5.

The movement of the lever Q, for the purpose above described, iseffected in the following manner: There is a slide R, permanentlysecured to the pattern cylinder shaft Gr', and to this slide is fitted aslider R', having a wedge piece lv, see Fig. 3, on its front face, whichworks, against the back of the eye u', of the lever Q, the lever beingheld in contact with it by means of a spring u2, secured to the smallframe S, which carries the pattern cylinder. The slider R, is operatedto bring the wedge into action upon the lever and 'throw it forward bymeans of ar lever T, working on a fixed fulcrum w, and a cam U, on ashaft U, which is parallel to and geared, by gearing l0 and 11, with thepattern cylinder shaft. The lever T, carries a stud y, which rests onthe periphery of the cam. The cylinder makes three revolutions to one ofthe cam shaft, but this relative speed is not arbitrary, as it may makefour or more if desirable. The slider PX, has a pin .r on its front sideand the lever T, has a groove or passage a, on its back side into whichthe pin a2, enters every time the cylinder completes a revolution. Thecam is divided radially, as shown in Fig. 7, by red lines, into a numberof parts equal to the number of revolutions the cylinder' makes for itsone, and at the end of one of these divisions there is an inclined rise7/, at the end of the neXt a second inclined rise :1/2, and so on,according to the number of divisions and at the end of the last divisiona sudden fall ya. At the end of the rst revolution of the patterncylinder, the first rise 1 of the cam raises the lever T, a little way,and the said lever catching the pin moves the slider R', a little way. At the end of the next revolution of the pattern cylinder, the next risetz/2, comes into operation and raises the lever a little more, whichgives the slider R', another movement. The action of this or the lastrise of the cam brings the wedge piece o, on the slider into operationon the lever Q, and the said lever, which up to this time has been heldback by the spring u2, is now thrown forward by the wedge piece, and bythe action of the said lever on the lever t, the rock-shaft s, isoperated. During the revolution of the cam up to this point, the wholelength of web from one hole to another, and one side of a hole are wovenand during the remainder of the revolution of the cam, correspondingwith a single revolution of the pattern cylinder, the second side of thehole is woven. At the end of the revolution of the cam and cylinder, thestep 1/3, of the cam passes the stud y, of the lever T, and the leverdrops or is thrown down suddenly by a spring U2, to the lowest part ofthe cam carrying back the slider R', the whole way and allowing thespring u2, to throw back the lever Q, suddenly, ready to commenceweaving the whole width of web again. In addition to the duty ofoperating the lever Q, the slider R, performs the duty of alwaysreturning the pattern cylinder at the termination of the weaving of ahole, to the position for commencing the pattern anew. In order toeffect this the cylinder is fitted loosely upon its shaft and is onlysecured thereto by a spring catch e', attached to the slide R, engagingin one of a series of notches in a wheel V, which is secured permanentlyto the cylinder. The ratchet wheel P, and a wheel P2, see Figs. 3 and 5,which is engaged by a spring catch P3, to keep the shaft from turningwhen not operated upon for the purpose of turning it, are both securedto the shaft. The wheel P2, and the wheel V, have their teeth rounded inboth directions so that the catches P3, and e, may be caused to slipover by the application of a certain amount of force in either directionbut this does not prevent them holding the cylinder when it is notdesiredv to move. The slider R is made to turn the cylinder on the shaftto return it to the position for commencing the pattern by providing thesaid slide with a small fork e', at one side to receive a pin 2.2, whichis secured in the contiguous face of the wheel V, and by that meansevery movement of the slider turns the wheel and the cylinder a littleway on the shaft, the two catches P3 and e, admitting of this slideralways carries it back to a certain position viz: that for commencingthe pattern. This action must be positive as the slider acts upon thecylinder altogether independently of its shaft. Y

The harness of this loom with the exception of the heddles is madeentirely of iron. Its construction is exhibited in Figs. 2 and 4, eachlower heddle rail B, is secured permanently by riveting, bolting orotherwise to the lifting bar C, and it has attached to it in anysuitable manner a number of metallic loops 13, corresponding with thenumber of webs to be woven in the loom, the said loops being to attachthe heddles 14. Between every two loops 13, there is an upright piece 15secured rigidly to the lower heddle rail by riveting, bolting orotherwise. These upright pieces are slotted at their upper ends. Theupper heddle rail B, is provided with a number of metal loops 131, tocorrespond with the loops 13, of the lower rail and is bolted to theuprights 15, by screw bolts 16, passing through the slots in the saiduprights and screwing into the rail itself. The slots allow the upperrail to be moved at any time to tighten up the heddles by simplyunscrewing the bolts 16.

The shuttles are driven from the pattern cylinder shaft. Only oneshuttle, 17, is shown. All are supposed to be driven simultaneously by asliding rod fitted to the lay. This rod is not shown but will beunderstood as a similar rod is commonly employed to drive a number ofshuttles for narrow weaving. The rod derives its movement from a cord orchain 1S, see Fig. 1, which passes over a pulley or its equivalent underthe lay, the ends of the said cord or chain being connected with twotreadles, 29, 19, which are depressed in turn to move the cord inopposite directions, by means of a rod 21, which is suspended from alever 22, which is depressed by a cam 23, on the main shaft, once duringevery revolution of the latter and raised again by a spring 24, afterthe cam has passed it. The rod 21, is moved to the right and left todepress the treadles, 29, 19, in regular alternate succession by means.of a sliding piece 25, see Fig. 4, which is driven in one direction bya cam 26, on the back end of the cylinder shaft and driven back again bya spring 27, att-ached to the framin 'glhe loom has two stop motions,one of which is to stop it when the filling gives out or breaks, and theother when either of the shuttles fails to pass through the warp. Thefilling stop, of which there is one for every web, differs materiallyfrom that employed in common looms. It consists of an upright fork e, e,placed in front of each reed or sec-wA tion of the reed, of sufficientwidth to allow the web to pass between its prongs, provided with pivotsto fit small boXes e', e, on the lay, and with a tongue e2, standing outin front something like the tongue of the rotector of a common loom. Thelling thread,

after the shuttle has passed through the warp lies across the front ofthe prongs e, e, of the fork and holds them back, thereby holding thetongue e2, so high that when the lay beats up, the said tongue will passthrough without touching the fork d, d, of an arm cl', which is attachedto the horizontal shaft d2, which also carries an arm (Z3, which liesagainst the shipper lever d4; but if the filling thread gives out thetongue e2, falls below the fork e, e, and when the lay beats up strikesthe arm cl, thereby driving the arm d3, against the shipper lever andthrowing it out of the notch by which it is held in gear throws the loomout of gear. The forked arm cl', also serves to stop the loom when theshuttle fails to pass through the warp, the' fork d, (l, of the said armbeing then struck by the shuttle as the lay beats up and the arm (Z3,being thereby caused to throw the shipper lever out of its notch. Itneed hardly be observed that there must be an arm d', for every reed orsection of the reed.

That I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. The method herein described of forming button holes or other holes insuspenderwebbing and other fabrics by weaving one side of the holecontinuously from the weaving of the full width of the web, then runningback the web, the length of the hole inl proceeding with the other sideof the 2. The employment for operating the harness of a sliding liftingcarriage E, furnished with a number of catches a, a, corresponding withthe number of leaves of harness, said catches being employed below theharness, opposite the lifting bars (l, 0, thereof and being allowed tofall into the notches of the lifting bars of their respective leaves ofharness, or being thrown out by a corresponding number of levers f, f,which are operated upon by a pattern cylinder G, or its equivalent,substantially as herein described.

3. The method of throwing off all the levers f, f, from the patterncylinder at every stroke of the loom to admit of the turning of thecylinder, by attaching all the said levers to a superior lever H, whichis operated upon by inclined surfaces z', j, upon the connecting rod ofthe lifting carriage E, substantially as herein described.

4. The mechanism by which the suspension of the operation of that partof the hare ness which carries that part of the warp which forms theside of the hole which is first woven is effected, consisting of a rockshaft s', carrying catches s, `s, to hold up the harness, and a fingerlever t, attached to the lifting carriage E, to act on a cam s3, or itsequivalent on the said rock shaft, the said finger lever having impartedto it by suitable means, a vibrating or side to side movement at thetermination of the weaving of each side of the hole to actuate therockshaft, to throw the catches s, s, in or out of operation,substantially as herein described.

5. The method of returning the pattern cylinder to the position forcommencing the pattern, after the weaving of the hole, by fitting thecylinder loosely to its shaft and furnishing the end of the shaft with afixed slide R, to receive a movable slider R, which is raised atintervals by a lever operated by a cam on a shaft U, parallel to andgeared with the cylinder shaft, and at the end of the formation of thehole suddenly falls overa step on the cam and throws down the slider andthereby causes l-each of the let-off rolls o, o', of the brake a forkz', on the slider to operate on a stud z2, on the cylinder and return itpositively to the required position, substantially as herein described.

6. Forming those dents of the reed which correspond with that part ofthe warp which forms that side of the button hole which is to be firstwoven with.a backward crook nf, above or below the plane in whicltheclosing of the sheds takes lplace in order that by raising or loweringthat part of the warp of which the first woven side of the hole iscomposed, the said woven side` may be allowed to go back, the length ofthe hole, without obstructing the lay in weaving the other side of thehole, as herein fully set forth.

7.v I claim the method of liberating the take up roll from the pawls m2,m3, to allow the backward movement of the web and rengaging it with thesaid pawls, by means of the lever M, the hooked bar g, the catch g', andthe arm r, all operating substantially as described.

8. I claim fitting the arm 7', loosely to the take up shaft and engagingit by means of a pawl r, with the ratchet, and providing a -Xed stop 1"?to arrest the said arm at a suitable point, whereby. the take up shaftis caused to carry the said arm r, the requisite distance from the catchg', vcorresponding with the length of the button hole and then the armto become stationary till the ratchet is liberated, and then to returnwith the `ratchet to throw out the catch g, substan- -tially as hereindescribed.

9. The application in connection with lever 0, and a spring lever g, thesaid le- :vers operating as described to control the let o and thespring lever acting as a backward take up to take back the web to weavethe second side of the hole, substantially as herein described.

WILLIAM V. GEE. Witnesses:

JOHN CRAiG, R. FITZGERALD.

